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Lisabeth Tanner (original character)
Character History Growing up human. Liz was born in Albert Einstein Hospital to Aiden Tanner, a pediatrician, and Layla Marisol Tanner, a middle school teacher. The young couple had been told early on in their marriage that the possibility of pregnancy was slim. Never the less this little girl came into their lives a miracle on August 19th. The three lived in a mid sized apartment in the Bronx until, when Liz was three; the family packed up and moved to River Edge, New Jersey, after Aiden had gotten a job at Bergen Pines County Hospital in Paramus, not far from River Edge. Layla had gotten a new job at River Dell Middle school as the eight grade science teacher. At the age of five, Liz was enrolled into a gymnastics program which she committed to rigorously for three years, however, gymnastics took a back seat three years later when Liz took an interest in martial arts and sports, deciding to try and commit to all three though not as seriously as some of the other gymnasts. When Liz was nine years old, her mother got pregnant again and Liz was so excited about the idea of having a little brother or sister. Both her parents saw a blessing in this other child since it was so difficult having Liz and took all the precautions they took with their first child to ensure the delivery of their second. Unfortunately, near the end of her Layla’s term, she went into early labor and the child was born stillborn. This haunted Layla and Aiden who were never the same afterwards. Aiden took extra measures to spend more time at the hospital but Layla sunk into a depression. Liz too cried hard at the idea of losing her sibling but also at the state her mother was in. The proceeding months afterwards were the hardest with Layla’s diagnosed depression but they were able to recover the loss. When Liz was in high school she began her casual dating, group dating, and mild flirting. She didn’t really see the point in having a serious boyfriend especially since she knew what she wanted out of life, a college degree at an Ivy League university that would undoubtedly be far away. She didn’t want to feel tied down and at the time it was okay. Liz was also an exceptionally bright young woman, committing to honors and AP courses as well as skipping her sophomore year of high school and immediately entering her junior year. It was difficult with soccer, gymnastics, taekwondo, and academic studies but Liz managed to balance it with a social life, at times even sneaking out on weekends. It was during one of these parties that she met her first “serious” boyfriend Ian Conrad. He was in her grade though a year older than her and both started out as friends with similar views on not getting too committed with anyone. However, sometime during the mild flirting and talks they started going out and stayed together through junior and senior year of high school. Outwardly they seemed like the perfect couple but that was only because they both kept each other at arms length, unwilling to let the other fully in. It was a perfect relationship considering that after graduation Liz would be going to Cornell University (it was no trouble getting in) and Ian would go into Northwestern. By graduation they had broken up on good terms not dwelling too much on it because in the end they both knew it wouldn’t last. Outburst of shock. Over the summer something happened that would forever change Liz’s life. Several weeks prior to moving to Cornell University, Liz had one last hurrah with some of her friends, going to an all night rave in New York City. It was fun and they had a great time, Liz getting completely drunk. However when she got home in the wee hours of the morning her parents were there waiting. A fight soon ensued with her and her father both screaming over the other. Frustrated and fed up, Liz made a move to leave only to be stopped by her father. Angry, Liz’s hand ignited a strong ball of electricity and when she placed her hand over her father’s to remove it from her arm, she sent a strong electric charge that lasted several minutes, effectively frying his brain. Liz’s mother, who had her hand on her husband’s shoulder to try and pull him back was also electrocuted and killed. Liz was shocked, scared, disgusted, and anguished over what she’d down and she couldn’t turn off her powers. A spark from her hand ignited a spark plug which created a huge fire and traumatized, Liz was backed into a corner of the house. She would have died had it not been for her neighbor, who was a fireman, coming in and carrying her out. Liz spent several months recuperating at Bergen Pines County Hospital from smoke inhalation and burn marks on her hands. The doctors told her aunt Angela, Uncle Patrick, and Cousin Lucas (who had come immediately after the news) that she was virtually catatonic because of what she witnessed. The doctors hand no clue what it was, she wouldn’t speak to anyone but Lucas knew. Professor Xavier had told him that Liz’s powers manifested at the time of the accident. He pleaded with him to help her forget, help bring her out of it and sure enough around December, Professor Xavier helped block out part of her mind of what really happened. Sure enough Liz managed to get out of her catatonia and at the behest of her cousin and Professor Xavier, Liz enrolled at Xavier’s that same winter, deferring college. Adjusting to Xavier's. When Liz entered Xavier’s; she was at the beginning completely different from her normal self. A little withdrawn and unsure of herself in her new environment, it was initially difficult for her to make friends. That all changed when she met several character whom would end up being her closest friends that first year, her roommate Taylor Hall and a guy who was also new, Tobias Winters. It wasn’t hard for Liz to fall back into her old patterns as an outgoing and charismatic woman and with no school to occupy her time she was able to work hard at controlling her powers. The first few months went by uneventfully with her trying to get a feel for the place, make friends, control her powers, and get used to the fact that her parents were dead. But, during the summer something happened that would eventually make it known that her life would never be dull or drab anymore. Sabrina, a girl whom she’d met briefly, went completely insane and attacked a load of students in the weight room. Liz and others tried their best to stop her but it resulted in all of them getting stabbed three times before Sabrina moved onto other areas. She was eventually stopped and Liz was healed by the healers at Xavier’s but this would not be the last time a crisis would hit so close to home. Love and trauma. Despite this, the summer started on a good note where she met a man who would change her life for the better, Davis Cameron. They had only gone out once before mixed signals, Liz’s fears, and both their departure for the summer would cause their relationship to go at an impasse and at a premature end. At the start of the year they were able to resume it after the whole misunderstanding was cleared up but fate was not on their side. After a mission gone awry, a parasite infected Liz and a few others who were part of her team on the mission (some include Aiko Chigusa, Juliet Wilford, and Tobias Winters) which created vivid dreams of the infected’s worse fears. Liz’s memories were unblocked and she started dreaming then hallucinating what really happened to her parents. A month later Liz had full recollection of what she’d done and her mind, unable to deal with the trauma, closed up, leaving her body as a shell. For three months Liz remained in a catatonic state until an experimental drug, retrieved by her cousin, woke her up. From there on out she was sent to see a psychiatrist once a week. Having missed all of her first semester at NYU, Liz decided that she didn’t want to go there and tried to restart classes at Columbia for the fall, once she felt she was ready to go back to her life outside of Xavier’s. The spring would bring many new surprises for her; she broke up with Davis, in which he departed shortly afterwards, and she started a new relationship with her cousin’s former roommate, Zach. Sometime near late April she discovered she was pregnant with Davis’ child. Fear rocked her but with her friends and family she stayed strong. Strength during pregnancy. During the summer another tragedy hit at a much wider scale. The Purifiers attacked the mansion. Liz was about three months pregnant by then and forced to take refuge in the danger room while the graduates and faculty members were forced to fight. A danger room session was started somehow unleashing unlimited sentinels into the room full of students, injured and inexperienced, as well as Liz and a few other pregnant women and mothers. After spending most of the night fighting them off or hiding, the session was turned off and they were able to escape. For days she and others had to take refuge in a citadel not too far from the grounds. Liz’s grandparents came to take her to Boston for the rest of the summer but someone else came too, her old flame Davis, who came as soon as he could after hearing about the pregnancy and asked her to marry him. Having been with Zach for three months and unwilling to leave him, Liz rejected the proposal and her grandparents sent her back to Boston with them. During the summer she felt like a prisoner until half way through Zach came and “broke her out”, explaining to her grandparents that it was wrong to keep her there and as an adult she didn’t have to stay. Liz followed him to Ireland for his sister’s wedding and when they came back the mansion was up and running. New students flocked to the mutant safe haven and Liz met several interesting characters as well as reconnected with old ones. Recently, in December, she gave birth to her daughter, Grace Alessandra Tanner. Powers and Abilities Electrokinesis The ability to generate and manipulate electricity, discharging and directing electricity through her hands. She has the capability to kill a man, weld a lock, blast things (though she can’t penetrate a shield she can weaken it), and knock people out. Though the power of her ability can go as far as high electrical voltages to just a simple shock. She can also send electric stimulations through the brain which could disrupt the brains normal electrical rhythms and send people into what can be basically described as epileptic seizures. Energy Balls She can also create balls of energy called energy balls (ever seen Charmed than you know what I mean). On a low electrical charge the energy balls can send someone flying several feet and sends bolts of electricity though only enough to temporarily stun them. On a higher degree it can burn someone as well as electrocute them. Electric Arcs An electric arc is an electrical breakdown of a gas which produces an ongoing plasma discharge, resulting from a current flowing through normally nonconductive media such as air. They start off as electrical currents coming out of her fingertips that with enough heat and mixed with the air causes the air to ionize and that form a ball of blue plasma (Basically this power comes from both herself and the air around her). Her eyes suddenly turn from its normal blue color to a glowing light blue. When she reaches a high enough temperature she can melt or vaporize most materials the minute she touches them but low enough she can burn them while still sending a few voltages. Though they may appear as a blue ball of plasma she doesn’t throw them but shoots them out. When she shoots them out the palm of her hand depending on the distance the arcs usually explode the object upon impact because of the intensity. When they are just resting in her hand or when she shoots them at close distance they can melt objects or people’s skin. This is ten times more powerful than her basic electricity. She can’t control when it happens or the intensity. When they are brought to the surface they give her a surge of energy and adrenaline but after use she finds herself extremely exhausted. Special Skills *First Dan Degree black belt in taekwondo *Gymnastics *Chemistry Weaknesses Liz isn’t immune to her own electrical shocks so if someone were to reflect it so it bounced back to her she would get hurt. Water has an affect on her powers making it spread out or depending on the amount, short circuit. If she were covered in water while using her powers she would get electrocuted. If she were to short circuit on her powers then she wouldn’t be able to use them for a while even when dry. She isn’t immune to other people's powers. Liz is incapable of throwing energy balls farther than eight feet because any farther and they would break apart and disappear. During her first year at Xavier’s the arcs came with no warning and with much damage. During her study at Xavier’s Liz learned how to bring them to the surface but with extreme physical fatigue afterwards and effort. She has learned, with great effort, to make them disappear but the electric arcs wear her out. When they come they give her a temporary surge of energy so long as they are out and functioning but it takes a lot of mental and physical ability to bring them forth and even more to bring them back down which usually causes a lot of headaches. In extreme cases Liz could be knocked out after using these because of the strain they put on her. Liz practices taekwondo but does not exert much physical strength. She can easily be overpowered by someone stronger than her. She also is recently recovering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which rendered her catatonic for a brief three months but is still regularly visiting a therapist. Personality Liz’s personality has shifted somewhat since her first year at Xavier’s. No longer the spastic and jumpy girl she was, she still maintains a regular upbeat personality. She’s matured significantly but still enjoys the occasional quips and sarcastic remarks, most notably around her friends October Knox and Tobias Winters. She is a known babbler, something that would never go away, able to talk a mile a minute especially around others who talk as fast as she does sometimes like Caroline Oke, or Gregg McClay. She is at times even teased, light heartedly, about it by Aiko, for strange ability to babble even in a catatonic state (Aiko had somehow entered her dreams, connected by their similar powers). No matter what, Liz is an empathetic girl, one who is always willing to help someone though only extending it to her friends. She finds herself uncomfortable and unwilling to ask a stranger if they need emotional help. At times overbearing and persistent, Liz eventually knows how to back off when asked to. All in all she is a very loyal friend, once you have her as a friend; very little gets in the way of her loyalty, no normal fight would be enough to push her away. On the flip side, Liz has an issue with commitment, when it comes to friendships it is much easier to make an acquaintance out of her than a close and best friend. She no doubt has many outer circle friends in Michelle Preston and Erin Hanson, but the closer friends like Juliet Wilford, Tobias Winters, and Taylor Hall stem much deeper. She trusts only a few with her life and her problems, where she doesn’t have any problem revealing what’s inside. Which is another thing; Liz has issues telling everyone what is on her mind, much preferring to keep her own troubles away, at times even from her own friends and family. When it comes to romance, Liz is a romantic, she loves it in her books and her movies but when it comes to her own life, Liz is more unwilling then some. Romance leads to commitment and attachments, two things she, for whatever reason, always stays away from. It is what ruined her first real relationship with Davis, her constant pushing away. On top of that she is prone to anger, nothing like her regular bouts of irritation or disgust where she voices it without a second thought, her real anger is usually expressed as coldness and withdrawn along with a piercing glare or she shuts down completely inside, refusing to talk about it. Her sadness is easy enough to hide and most of the time she waits until she is alone where no one can hear her and she breaks down. Liz is a very type “A” personality, very organized and little room for procrastination, she likes to get things done her way and on her time table. She has little patience for people when they get in her way or when they interrupt her when she is working. She tries to be nice but sometimes her impatience slips in and when it comes to a certain point she can come off as rude or abrupt. Relationships Lovers Davis Cameron Davis Cameron was Liz’s first real love. They had met the summer after Liz’s first year at Xavier’s and they seemed to have hit it off well. However, Liz’s fear of commitment matched with a string of mixed signals and misunderstandings drove a wedge between them early on and during the summer they parted ways. It wasn’t until they both came back to Xavier’s in August that they had met up again and decided to give it another try. However, two months into the relationship, their first test of devotion arose when Liz’s unlocked memories of how her parents really died reverted her back to a catatonic state for three months. With Diana Sottomayor’s help, Davis was able to enter Liz’s mind and converse with her. Both felt powerful feelings for each other but Liz, not knowing if she’d ever come out of her catatonia, begged him to move on and pleaded with Diana to not let him come back. In mid December, Liz did come out of her catatonia and the two were able to resume their relationship. The proceeding months drove them closer and closer together, with Davis even coming to France with her and her family during Christmas. Liz felt something that she had never felt for anyone else and in her mind, she thought it was love. This idea scared her but she didn’t push him away, not entirely and on Valentine’s Day the two were intimate for the first time. Despite the strong feelings they had for each other, Liz still felt herself unwilling to fully give her heart away and in March, an opportunity for Davis to go back to Australia for personal and professional reasons was the excuse Liz needed to finally push the one man she had allowed to let herself get so close to. They took a break as a result, Liz’s fear burying her feelings and she drove him away, an unspoken break up resulted. It was unknown at the time that she was pregnant. Several months later, after Liz had started to move on, Davis came back in her life with the intent on marrying her and forming a family. Liz rejected his proposal and made it clear they would not be getting back together again. Davis left for the second time, heartbroken, and wouldn’t appear again until their daughter, Grace, was born. By then they put the past behind them and were able to continue their relationship as just friends. Zachary Reese Liz met Zach Reese around mid-April, barely a month after her break up with Davis. To say that their meeting and eventual relationship was unexpected would be an understatement but the two had a connection that, as much as they tried, could not be denied. He was the first to find out that she was pregnant, feeling that he was the most objective of the people she knew and since their was a chance that maybe she could form a relationship with him, she felt he had to know immediately. His reaction was unexpected, one of acceptance and he didn’t mind dating a pregnant woman. Hesitant, Liz still continued her relationship with him despite her fears. When the Purifiers attacked that summer, it was the first test of devotion the two held when they were trapped in the danger room while a session was going on. While trying to locate each other after being separated, a sentinel blocked their path and, seeing a sentinel about to shoot at Liz, Zach automatically blew it up, reducing it to powder. Together they hid in one of the abandoned buildings until the session was turned off. Immediately after the attack Liz was sent to Boston to live with her grandparents for the majority of the summer until Zach came to get her back, and he invited her to his sister’s wedding. Unsure about this, since meeting the family was a major step in her mind, she decided to go anyway. When the school year started their relationship only grew stronger. It seemed that the bond they had was something that neither of them had ever felt before. It was stronger than what Liz felt for Davis and by December, the idea of giving him up scared her more than the idea of getting close to him. In a spur of the moment blurt out, Liz confessed that she was in love with him, something she never thought she’d ever admit and couldn’t decide if it was the pregnancy hormones or her own feelings. After Grace was born and things settled down, Liz realized her feelings for him were not just because of pregnancy hormones and that he had unexpectedly brought down the walls that she’d been keeping up for so long. Friends Tobias Winters Toby was one of the first few friends Liz met at Xavier’s and he ended up being one of the most prominent in her life. From the start the two seemed to have amazing chemistry as friends, joking around, talking, sharing snarky comments and telling each other things. At one point Liz even developed a crush on him and for a moment she thought he felt the same. It was her disappointment, however, that he had eyes for another brunette and when the news was brought to light, Liz, embarrassed, considering that same day she had asked him out, she avoided him for a week to recover. They met up later on and after talking they managed to stay friends. Over the years the twosome’s friendship grew stronger and resulted in an almost sibling relationship. Toby is first and foremost the person Liz runs to and vice versa. He is one of the few Liz trusts no matter what and has no problem sharing her deepest fears with. Liz has helped him several times when it came to his relationship with Juliet, once urging him to get back together with her after the two had broken up. She has also asked him to be the godfather of her daughter, Grace. Juliet Wilford Liz and Juliet’s friendship started off just as acquaintances through Toby. Though soon both girls realized they had a lot in common like their aspirations in medicine, coffee, similar personalities, though Juliet is often noted as being a bit more introverted and girly than Liz. Over the past two years they’ve gotten considerably close, in fact, after telling Zach, Juliet along with Toby was the second person she told about her pregnancy. During her entire pregnancy, Julie helped monitor her and was even around to see the sex of the baby. They grew closer as friends during that period and soon after the baby was born, Liz asked Juliet to be the godmother of her baby. October Knox Liz’s relationship with October is a fairly new one but she has become one of Liz’s best friends. Though they don’t share the deep stuff yet, they do share some secrets together. They are like fire and ice, both strong and independent with the ability to burn in different ways. They often bring out the mean side to each other because despite their similarities they often clash a lot in temperament. When they argue, they really dish it out but it doesn’t take long for the two to make up again. Recently, October has admitted that she has deep feelings for Liz’s ex, Davis, and that they had been getting together from time to time. Liz finds herself cheering for both her friend and her ex, thinking they could both use a happy ending. However, a fight unlike any other erupted from this news a week afterwards when October admitted to Liz that she had slept with someone else. A screaming match soon came to blows leaving both injured with bruises. Nero Sable Nero was the first friend Liz made at Xavier’s. A boy her age who was diagnosed with a rare and incurable disease, Liz tried her best to be there for him and was incredibly hurt and confused when he switched from Xavier’s to the Brotherhood. She tried to keep her friendship with him but over the years it had become increasingly difficult to keep in contact. As they both grew up and changed it seemed like their friendship disintegrated somewhat though Liz still tries to remain friends with him and visit him as often as she can, though it is now very difficult considering that the once “truce” between both teams have been broken. Caroline Oke Liz met Caroline near the end of November at the school Caroline was a new student, pregnant much like Liz. It didn’t take long for the two to strike up a conversation and realize that they were very, very much alike. Both talked a mile a minute and both had similar attitudes when it came to things. Their friendship is still fairly new but she’s come to rely on her and the two have much in common when it comes to concerns over motherhood. Their relationship has grown strong over the past few months and it is still growing. Taylor Hall Taylorwas Liz’s roommate when she first arrived at Xavier’s and the two have a kind of sisterly bond that couldn’t be broken even when Taylor left for the Brotherhood. Of course Liz was against that idea, especially since Taylor seemed perfectly happy. Even if she never told her best friend, Liz secretly blamed Taylor’s ex husband, Kyle, who at the time was only Taylor’s boyfriend, for coercing her to the Brotherhood. She developed distrust for him but still remained amiable since Taylor ended up marrying him. It was difficult, keeping a friendship, but they managed as a true test of their bond, despite different affiliations. When Liz told Taylor she was pregnant, she could sense some bitterness in her friend, since at the time it was thought Taylor couldn’t get pregnant. But by some miracle, a month after it was revealed that Taylor was indeed pregnant with twins. Liz was there when Taylor’s water broke, it was shortly after she left Kyle and the stress induced labor. The twins were delivered safely however Taylor’s marriage was completely dissolved. Liz took the opportunity to try and get her friend to come back to Xavier’s, seeing it as the place she truly belongs at. Mentor Diana Sottomayor Diana Sottomayor is practically the only woman at Xavier’s that Liz truly looks up to. She’s been through the worst with Liz and she regards the older woman as one of her good friends. Diana helped Liz through her catatonia, telling her not to give up on love or a cure and even though Liz didn’t believe it at the time, when she did get out of her catatonia, Liz felt that the combined efforts of their conversation and the drug that Lucas provided her was what gave her the strength to break through. Family Lucas Mitchell Lucas is one of Liz’s cousins on her father’s side and a mutant. He arrived at the school before she did and was the one who helped break her out of her catatonia the first time around. A Boston native, Lucas was the one she was closest to on that side of the family and often felt a little jealous about his “globe trotting” all over the world because of his abilities. They have a playful rivalry whenever baseball season comes around since Liz is an avid Yankees fan and Lucas cheers for the Red Sox. When Liz went back into her catatonia, Lucas tried everything possible to bring her out, even making a deal with Lilith, an evil mutant, to get a serum in exchange for Liz’s best friend, Tobias Winters. He ended up turning the tables on Lilith when others came to stop her and he left with the serum anyway, though at the time it did very little good. Their relationship was somewhat strained afterwards when she learned what he had done. When Liz learned she was pregnant, she found it difficult to tell Lucas so she instilled the help of his wife, Aiko, by having her tell him for her. He took it surprisingly well though it didn’t sit well with him but he knew he had to accept it. Months later when Aiko was kidnapped and tortured, Liz tried being there for him while he dealt with him but after Aiko was safe and sound she felt it best that she leave them alone to try and work it out. Lucas is one of the few she will always forgive no matter what he does. Aiko Chigusa-Mitchell Aiko and Liz bonded over gymnastics first and foremost but their friendship never really took off until Aiko started dating Lucas. Over the course of their friendship, Liz went to Aiko whenever she needed to talk to her about things that Liz couldn’t figure out herself, firs and foremost how to tell Lucas that she was pregnant. Aiko was also the first one to figure out (just by looking at her) that she was dating Zach. Aiko was also the only one, aside from Davis with Diana’s help, who was able to reach out to Liz when she was catatonic through a connection of their powers. Liz regards Aiko as her friend and family but at times she finds herself uncomfortable in the girl’s presence, especially when it comes to how they view things. Liz has always said Aiko was incredibly blunt when it came to things, often having no problem saying things that are often scandalous. But when it comes to tragedies, she’s there for Aiko and even stood up for her on her behalf when it came to her aunt Angela (Lucas’ mother) insulting Aiko in front of her or behind her back. Hope Chigusa-Mitchell Hope is Lucas and Aiko’s first born and Liz’s second cousin. Liz was named Hope’s godmother. Grace Alessandra Tanner Liz and Davis' daughter born December 28th 2009. Trivia *Lisabeth is a rare name and a variant of Elisabeth which means “God is my oath”. *In the Bible, Elizabeth was Zachary/Zachariah’s wife. *Her eyes glow blue when she uses her electric arcs. *Is a Jane Austen fan. *Has a tattoo shaped like a lightning bolt on the small of her back. *Is Roman Catholic. Quotes "You told me ‘So long as they’re in your heart you’ll never feel lonely, you’ll never miss their presence. And…that right now when you think of them, you’ll feel sad but eventually there will come a time when you’ll think of them and smile, smile at the memories, smile at the fact that you had them in your life.’ …It’s true." (XI-3, Past thread – Xander’s Funeral. 08/05/09) "She’s doing fantastic. Unfortunately her best friend’s big butt is blocking her view of the screen." (XI-4, Home Theater. 02/05/10) "Don’t scare you? I was the one nearly met with a mouthful of air!" (XI-4, Kitchen Pantry. 01/29/10) "Don’t you dare stick your nose up at me! From where I stand you’re cheap and that doesn’t make you any higher than a crack whore in a brothel house!" (XI4, Home Theater, 02/26/10)